I think there is a version of myself out there still watching this movie. I felt every nanosecond of American Hustle’s 138 minute runtime. Right when you think it’s winding down they squeeze another few minutes over and over again. That’s not to say the movie wasn’t enjoyable, it was quite so, but my lord the length. Part of me wonders if a lot of writing was done after production began. Jennifer Laurence in particular had a decent amount of screen time for a character that is bordering on pointless. Maybe they landed Laurence and said “holy shit she’s popular, write something with her where she’s doing something goofy and have her tits almost falling out while your at it! ” I never felt bored or wanted to shut the movie off, I just never once got lost in the movie. I was fully aware how long I’d been sitting down watching people do things on a big rectangle instead of furthering my life somehow.

Maybe I wasn’t in the mood? Sitting here I can’t really find any faults with the movie. At the same time I can’t really point at anything that makes me say “this was a great movie!” The direction was good, the acting great, and it’s a solid story. It just didn’t all come together in a way that really elevated everything. The characters felt real and the story of a con man pulled in different directions while trying to hold everything together was fun. Everyone has their own motivations and scams they are running, you almost get lost with who is playing who when and how it’s all going to end up. The story moves forward organically, everything flows really well and even manages to have a few twists that fit right in.

The pieces are all there but as a whole the movie was just solid. The length certainly didn’t help matters but if you have the time I don’t think you will walk away disappointed. I would defiantly suggest watching it but I would temper your expectations. Don’t expect the moon and you won’t be upset with uranus.